2010 Infinity Award: Lifetime Achievement

John G. Morris is our 2010 honoree for Lifetime Achievement
Recipient
Apr 11, 2010
John G. Morris is our 2010 honoree for Lifetime Achievement

John G. Morris, called "the world's most influential photo editor," has worked with the greatest photojournalists of the past century—from World War II to the Vietnam and Gulf wars. From 1939 to 1945, he was a member of the Time, Inc. editorial staff, working variously as Life's Hollywood/Los Angeles correspondent (1941–42), Assistant Picture Editor (1942–43), London Picture Editor—handling D-Day coverage and serving as field coordinator for all press photographers in Normandy (1943–44), Paris Bureau Chief (1945), and Midwestern Editor (1945). Morris was drafted into the Air Force in 1945, editing photographs for Impact, the Air Intelligence magazine. Back in civilian life again, he joined Ladies' Home Journal as Picture Editor, working especially on the "How America Lives" and "People are People the World Over" feature series. In 1953 he became Executive Editor of Magnum Photos, working alongside its founders Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, Chim (David Seymour), and other noted member photographers. He also worked for The New York TimesThe Washington Post, and Time-Life Books. Morris is the author of Get the Picture: A Personal History of Photojournalism (Random House, 1998 and University of Chicago Press, 2002), which received the ICP Infinity Award for Writing in 1999. In early 2009, the French Légion d'honneur, France's highest and most prestigious award, was bestowed upon Morris for his seven decades of professional service to photojournalism.